Things to Know - 16 February

1.  Fifty organizations have collaborated and submitted a petition to he judiciary committees of both the house and senate to overturn the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United - which spawned the huge Super PAC disaster.  Not sure how effective is going to be, but it is either a start or a show of force:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12601

2.  Thom Hartman and his news has some pretty scary stuff, including one that funds an education forum for K-12 kids that twists data and debunks any concerns over climate change - all sponsored and funded by the Koch Brothers.  Also, read about the state of Arizona passing a law that creates its own militia (apart from the National Guard) that is to be used at the discretion of the governor (that being Jan Brewer), and much more:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12620

3.  In this article, if there is any sense of truth to it, one really has to wonder what what is going on in Afghanistan.  It appears that there is a substantial ($400 million) being doled out by the DOD to the Taliban.  Bribes?  Protection Money?  Whatever you want to call it, that money is used to by weapons materials to turn around and kill US troops.  There is something horribly wrong about this.   General Petraeus fired the 2-Star Admiral who found out about this.  Read this, and see if you can make sense of it:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12611

4.  It is said that if you work hard enough, you can achieve great things.  Well, Newton Leroy Gingrich has been rewarded for all of his hard work.  He earned it.  He is the most-disliked on recent record, even approaching G. W. Bush's ratings:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/newt-gingrich-the-most-disliked-politician-in-america/2012/02/15/gIQAloLoFR_print.html

5.  With all of Mitt's current problems, he really did not need this one.  Elie Wiesel's parents were posthumously baptized by Mormon Church, so that they could enter into what is called the LDS concept of heaven.   First of all Elie Wiesel is the famous Jewish force that has continued to remind us all of the events of the Holocaust, and second, he never gave the Mormons permission.   So Elie is calling on Mitt Romney to ask/tell the Mormon Church to stop trying to baptize deceased Holocaust victims.  This is will actually make Romney address his theology, and perhaps bring to light much of the strange practices of his faith:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/elie-wiesel-calls-on-mitt-romney-to-make-mormon-church-stop-proxy-baptisms-of-jews/2012/02/14/gIQAZK6bER_print.html

6.  E.J. Dionne is now on the "Mitt is not the obvious nominee" bandwagon.  Romney's only chance is for Gingrich to make a come back, but the last time we saw him, he was cracked up into a tree trunk:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/romneys-big-problem-a-missing-aura-of-electability/2012/02/15/gIQApCrbGR_print.html

7.  Charles Blow takes a closer look at the "severely conservative" Mitt-bot.  It's too painful to watch this man act like an awkward speaker:
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/mitt-romneys-thirst/?pagemode=print

8.  Romney is in Michigan, in a state whose auto industry he said should go bankrupt, in a city whose name he can't quite get right.  Man, this is very awkward:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romney-michigan-goes-after-obama-20120215,0,1308398,print.story

9.  So, let's finish up with Steve Lopez and his ongoing exposure of drivers who park, using disability placards, in disabled-only parking, and then walk away briskly:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0215-lopez-placardsting-20120213,0,2803227,print.column

10.  Here's to the Fish with Two Good Eyes !

--
Juan

"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts."
       -- Will Rogers

"One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways."
       -- Bertrand Russell

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."
       -- Alvin Toffler

"People seem to enjoy things more when they know a lot of other people have been left out of the pleasure."
       -- Russell Baker

"Football is a mistake. It combines the two worst elements of American life. Violence and committee meetings."
       -- George F. Will

Things to Know - 15 February

1.  This is an article worth your reading time.  It concerns the difference between Right Wing and Conservative.  It puts the Right Wing on the couch and attempts to psycho-analyze the reasons for the strange and bizarre beliefs, conduct, and characters in our present political life.  There really is a difference between the two (Conservative and Right Wing):
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12489

2.  Democracy is thrown overboard by the love of money.  Bill Moyers has written his story on the current rage of big money and Super PACs:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12550

3.  Noam Chomsky, he may be a a bit too far left for lots of  you, but he has written a brilliant short history of the "decline of America".  It may still be a long read, but it puts into perspective all the events that we remember reading about, experiencing, and working through now, and account for a weakened stature in global influence.  You really should read it:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12553

4. Thom Hartmann and the easy to digest news:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12569

5.  The state of Alabama now realizes that it will reap what it sows:
http://www.businessweek.com/printer/top-news/alabamas-immigration-law-could-cost-billions-annually-02142012.html

6.  Iran has been crippled by sanctions, and it has internal problems as well.  The situation may be such that the country's only way out of the mess is to talk and negotiate:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/opinion/give-diplomacy-with-iran-a-chance.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  Columnist Ross Douthat analyzes how Romney has succumbed to Santorum's campaign strategy.  He also tries to pitch a plant on how Romney should respond, which is going to be difficult.  It's show time:
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/rick-santorums-pincer-movement/?pagemode=print

8.  David Lazarus of the LA Times renders good reasoning on why employer-provided health plans becoming irrelevant.  The recent kerfuffle on access to contraception proves it.  He argues that the time has come to phase out the employer and phase in Medicare for everyone:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20120214,0,3357335,print.column

9.  Newt Gingrich pops into LA for a campaign stop.  The poor guy really has no clue about his location or its pending EPA issues and opens up his fat mouth and in his buzzing mosquito voice manages to make himself appear silly and inept:
http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2012/02/newt-gingrich-says-hola-la-.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpinionLa+%28L.A.+Times+-+Opinion+Blog%29

--
Juan

"Old age is fifteen years older than I am."
       -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"There is still a difference between something and nothing, but it is purely geometrical and there is nothing behind the geometry."
       -- Martin Gardner

"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman."
       -- Virginia Woolf

"We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."
       -- Will Rogers

"I was walking down the street wearing glasses when the prescription ran out."
       -- Steven Wright

Things to Know - 14 February

1.  Sit down, stretch back and follow the bouncing ball with Thom Hartmann:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12503

2.  Read this story through to the end.  When you are finished, take it to those that you know who are bound and determined to rid us of unions and collective  bargaining agreements.  It's stuff like this that brought about worker organizations and unions.   Apparently the terms and conditions that created unions a century ago in the US work place, still exist:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12505

3.  Michael Moore reflects on the plight of Flint. Michigan 75 years ago, and the rise of workers to create the terms and conditions of a viable union for the auto workers, which this created real lives and rising standard of living.  He also celebrates his 25th year as a film maker on the basic subject of what is a rehash of events long ago, but with bigger stakes:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12497

4,  This article in the Atlantic is on the subject of war and the financing to conduct military policy.  Since the GOP is usually hawkish on the exercise of military might in foreign policy, it should the the wealthy GOP - as epitomized by the slate of wannabees (minus Ron Paul), to pony up the money through taxes to pay for it.   Sounds fair:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/print/2012/02/iran-war-would-cost-trillions-will-the-gop-pay-more-taxes-for-that/252977/

5.  The Atlantic comes through with an article that reveals a consequence of the income inequality in this country.  The children of the wealthier parents fare better that those whose parents are constantly in an economic struggle.  It would seem to be for obvious reasons, but is that right?   Is it who we are as a nation?:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/print/2012/02/occupy-kindergarten-the-rich-poor-divide-starts-with-education/252914/
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/02/in-memphis-classrooms-the-ghost-of-segregation-lingers-on/252992/

6.  Newton Leroy Gingrich will be the one to watch this week.  The very conservative National Review has flatly stated that he is unpopular and should quit the race.  This echoes the same sentiment from an army of right-wing pundits and power brokers.  So, let's see how he dances with this music.  It's show time:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/national-review-to-newt-gingrich-drop-out/2012/02/13/gIQAVfnsAR_print.html

7.  David Brooks enters with a column that take apart some of the buzz on a book, Coming Apart, that a certain mind-set has taken to heart as the explanation of what ails our social, cultural, and economic community.  It is a complex situation, which is basically a cycle of misery that breeds upon itself.  As Brooks states, we need to embark on program of social repair, that begins where Charles Murray's book leaves off 25 years ago:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/opinion/brooks-the-materialist-fallacy.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  The NY Times editorial on Obama's proposed budget gives a good review.  It's sound and non-confrontational.  The problem with the GOP opposition is that opposing raising taxes on the high end of the scale where the money sits, and asking, nay demanding, cuts in social programs (Medicare, Social Security, Pell grants, and the safety net) ring hollow.  The way the candidate Wannabees are conducting and slinging mud at each other further erodes any credibility in whatever programs they support:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/opinion/a-responsible-2013-budget.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print


--
Juan

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."
       -- Walt Disney

"Man always gets less than he demands from life."
       -- Jack London

"When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
       -- Jonathan Swift

"We need a president who's fluent in at least one language."
       -- Buck Henry

"I have often depended on the blindness of strangers."
       -- Adrienne E. Gusoff

Things to Know - 13 February

1.  The forever intrepid correspondent of the Albany New Bureau pointed out an article that I missed, and is worthy of your perusal.  It is about a mercenary militia, employed by capitalist organizations of brief life, who depend on contracts, and more often sub-contracts from equally non-stable contractors to do the dirty work of the Department of Defense.  The "contractors" don't quite have the same benefits or safety net of those in uniform of the armed forces, even though those jobs were formally done by our military:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/world/asia/afghan-war-risks-are-shifting-to-contractors.html?ref=rodnordland&pagewanted=print

2.  This article from the Washington Post cautions one as to how much exactly Mitt Romney was the "savior" of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Utah.  With scrutiny being paid to just about everything he has done or said, there is evidence that he did come and help at a critical time, but it was not because of his own effort - there were others:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/10-years-after-salt-lake-city-olympics-questions-about-romneys-contributions/2012/02/01/gIQABnCX9Q_print.html

3.  Dana Millbank points out that the noise coming from the GeeOpee is largely of a negative tone - concentrating on rude and nasty portrayals of Obama, and not much else.  Nothing of positive substance on what the agenda and program of their intentions is heard.  This is not of any benefit to their cause:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/at-cpac-republicans-become-nattering-nabobs-of-negativism/2012/02/10/gIQAYhI44Q_print.html

4.  EJ Dionne (himself a Catholic) endorses the revision, conciliation, and increased scope of the "contraceptive" issue:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/dionne-obama-contraception-compromise-women-white-house-does-the-right-thing/2012/02/10/gIQAcCWK4Q_blog.html

5.  If you have the patience to read through this article, you get a medal.  If you want to spend some time with the video, that works.  It is about an insider who worked with Reagan, and the Bushes, on tax policy.  He wrote honestly from his perspective, and his fellow conservatives turned on him because they labeled him a traitor.  So what else is new?:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12448

6.  It appears that there may be a difference of opinion on our "success" in Afghanistan.  The military voices are not consistent, and I can't wait to get my Rolling Stone copy this week to read all about it.  Consider this piece an introduction, with more to follow:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12473

7.   Paul Krugman's contribution today is that the current slate of GeeOpee wannabees have severely destroyed the concept of "Conservative", to the point that it's really hard to see what good becomes of it.  Of course there are contributions to be made to the discussion, but the way Romney is operating - he can't run on his record as Governor of Massachusetts because of his progressive health care program that he put in place, and he really can't afford to run on his business record at Bain, because of the questionable tactics and obscene personal wealth.  So, he is running with his invention of a political creed that fails him at just about every juncture:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/opinion/krugman-severe-conservative-syndrome.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  This article is included because it concerns an attempt to convert sea water to potable fresh water along the California coast.  More information on the technology used, and steps to mitigate harm to the ocean animals and biology are needed at to how this is going to be done.  However, conversion from sea to fresh water on a large scale is going to have to be explored if survival of humans is at stake:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0211-sea-water-20120211,0,2985952,print.story
--
Juan

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."
       -- Walt Disney

"Man always gets less than he demands from life."
       -- Jack London

"When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
       -- Jonathan Swift

"We need a president who's fluent in at least one language."
       -- Buck Henry

"I have often depended on the blindness of strangers."
       -- Adrienne E. Gusoff

Things to Know - 12 February

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/10/2635087/21212.html#storylink=cpy

1.  Obama has some serious erosion of base support, particularly among the Millennials (those born between 1978 and 2000).   Here is an interview with Heather McGhee by Bill Moyers on this subject:

http://www.truth-out.org/print/12444

2.  There is a fair question in this article on the Koch Brothers.  They have gobs of money to toss into the political arena to influence the political balance in favor of their conservative interests and their business interests in OIL.  They dump money where legislators lap it up and do their bidding, and now they create videos in their interest, but they do not want to testify before congress in any of their grubby businesses.  Why?   The wrong answer is that they don't have to:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12433

3.  Ralph Nader has a bone to pick with American Airlines, and perhaps a large block of commercial carriers.   It's not a good practice to start something that Mr. Nader can pick apart and take public:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12459

4.  Ted Rall talks about income inequality, Zuckerberg's pay of $6,000 a minute, and where Mitt-bot fits into the scheme.  For your entertainment:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/41317/

5.  This is an interesting column on the "five myths of white people":
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-white-people/2012/01/20/gIQAmlu53Q_print.html

6.  Frank Bruni of the NY Times finds Romney strengths (what few they are) not willing to be discussed by the candidate.  Mitt-bot, instead, concentrates on issues and positions for which he has no business or strengths doing.  In the process, Mitt Romney reveals himself to be nothing but an empty suit with nothing really to offer:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/opinion/sunday/bruni-romneys-missing-magic.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  Thomas Friedman puts out a column that is saying what I think is the most solid and true statement to come out in a long time.  The Republican Party is dysfunctional, and we need for it to be what it used to be.   You think I am having fun ridiculing the GeeOpee day after day and their weak slate of radical wannabees?   Not, really, unless you view my publication as a bad form of entertainment.  What Friedman is saying is that we need a viable conservative Republican Party, and not a bunch of radical wing-nuts who have been swayed by the Tea Party to morph into a destructive mess.   Give us back a real Republican Party, so that we can actually improve the dialog and improve the political process of government:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/opinion/sunday/friedman-we-need-a-second-party.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  I may have moved from Georgia to California in the past year, but here is Steve Lopez to remind me that we have crackers and red necks right up the road in Bakersfield:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0212-lopez-centralvalley-20120210,0,5850093,print.column


--
Juan

"I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity."
       -- Tom Stoppard

"The creator of the universe works in mysterious ways. But he uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers."
       -- Scott Adams

"The only thing worse than a man you can't control is a man you can."
       -- Margo Kaufman

"Perhaps in time the so-called Dark Ages will be thought of as including our own."
       -- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Things to Know - 11 February

Severe Problems with Severe Limitation

1.  If an effort to weed out corruption and bad behavior in our elected officials, this is a good start.  Insider trading by legislators who influence regulations is an old game, and needs to be exposed, and brought to justice:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rep-bachus-faces-insider-trading-investigation/2012/02/09/gIQA21Ui2Q_print.html

2. Courtesy of the Georgia News Bureau (C.C.Maloney), we have some great White House Pictures of 2011:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/sets/72157628633082149/show/

3.  By picking a fight with Clint Eastwood, the rabid-right pf the GeeOpee has demonstrated its total and utter lack of comprehension on the affairs of state.  It has permeated its dim view of just about everything that is reasonable and patriotic:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12401

4.  One of my favorite TV news programs is The Rachael Maddow Show (TRMS) on MSNBC.  She has written op-ed piece for the Washington Post about the absurd positions on birth control and personhood by the GeeOpee:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rachel-maddow-the-gop-war-on-birth-control/2012/02/10/gIQAbZ734Q_print.html

5.  The authors of a great book, Winner Take All Politics (which is a very good read), have come together again to detail some differences between George Romney (the dad), and Willard Mitt (the son).  There is not much similarity. Read for yourself:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/romney-is-the-right-man-for-america-george-romney-that-is/2012/02/07/gIQAdGwo4Q_print.html

6.  All the unnecessary drama on the issue of providing contraception through non-believer employers (Catholic churches and universities), is nothing more than a hot potato created by the hypocrites on the right.  It is basically a health-care benefit that is already in place.   The "compromise" announced today is nothing more than a great example as to why employers should be completely removed from the health insurance program, and be replaced with a single-payer system like Medicare.  Wait a minute...we already have Medicare.  My educated guess is that Medicare should be provided for all of those who don't already have it.   Makes sense to me:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12407

7.  Progressive steps to improve our renewable energy resources and improve our environment are met with obstacles and issues at every turn.   Just trying to build a solar collector in an area our where very few people ever stray, we have problems:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-solar-foxes-20120211,0,5232686,print.story

8.  Gail Collins, raised a Catholic, and a woman, does about as good as any in putting the big brouhaha on available contraception to an end:  The only ones who appear to be wailing about it are 4 old men and a level of hypocrites wearing a bunch of silly robes and acting like their institution is in full control of what is proper sexual conduct:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/11/opinion/collins-the-battle-behind-the-fight.html?_r=1&ref=opinion




--
Juan

"If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.'"
       -- Jeff Foxworthy

"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
       -- Harold Wilson

"If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised."
       -- Dorothy Parker

"A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read."
       -- Mark Twain
"Never raise your hand to your children - it leaves your midsection unprotected."
       -- Robert Orben

Things to Know - 10 February

1.  Read this one.  It describes how the Billionaire Backers of the Conservative money riding on the GeeOpee Wannabees are just playing a game that ends up in a brokered convention, where the big money will have its chance to put up who they want.   Kind of want to feel sorry for Romney, since he is just being used.  The other wannabees are just tinsel on the tree:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12382

2.  Getting to the heart of the issue on the production of Apple products in China, and just about every electronic gizmo on the market, David Pogue of the NY Times asks the real and hardest question of all - how much do we care ($$$)?:
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/the-dilemma-of-cheap-electronics/?pagemode=print

3.  This is a Huffington Post video about how the digestive system works on two different foods; (1. noodles and liquid from natural ingredients), and (2.  Top Ramen and Gatorade).  A tiny pill that contains the ability to observe, record, and transmit the signal outside of the body for analysis is very revealing.  Bon Appetit!:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/09/ramen-digestion_n_1263825.html

4.  In case you've missed Mitt, here he is in Atlanta, saying things to endear him to the right as he demands that welfare recipients be tested for drugs.  He wants to make sure that government money is not being used to support a a drug habit.  Does he include any and all entitlement programs, as well as government contractors as well?  How about the Wall Street crowd that got bailed out with our money?:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/09/10365798-romney-backs-welfare-drug-testing

5. This is for those of you who may have missed this very emotional speech from the floor of the State of Washington legislature when she came out in favor of the law that granted marriage to same-sex partners:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CbmbdWK6338#!

6.  David Brooks explores the persona of Mitt, and he frankly does not find much structure or sense of a basic commitment to any social issue that would grant him a brick in the wall:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/opinion/brooks-the-crowd-pleaser.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  Paul Krugman explains why the conservatives, when faced with the issue of the income inequality, change the subject and says the problems are all a result of a decline in moral values and a godless society, etc..  Well, Pablo says it really is all about the money, and what the lack of it does:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/opinion/krugman-money-and-morals.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  Doyle McManus of the LA Times covers all the mud that is being tossed around by the GeeOpee Wannabees.  They are killing each other and not really impressing anyone.  This is the kind of behavior and results that will provoke the BIG money (a lot more $$ than Romney has) to produce an alternate to the nomination process (Christie or Rubio) at their convention.  They really have no choice.  The current slate of candidates is about as unelectable as you can get:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcmanus-santorums-rise-20120209,0,7358408,print.column

--
Juan

"Older people shouldn't eat health food, they need all the preservatives they can get."

       -- Robert Orben

"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all."
       -- H. L. Mencken

"The really frightening thing about middle age is that you know you'll grow out of it."
       -- Doris Day

"Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president."
       -- Johnny Carson

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
       -- Albert Einstein

Things to Know - 9 February

1.  Rick Santorum has put Mitt-bot in a barrel of pickles.   Romney is going to have to go after him, so how is he going to do it?  Attack?  Be nasty?  The only thing he can do is get down and dirty and pose as someone who is more conservative than Santorum, which is going to be difficult, and is going to further alienate him from voters.  If he tries to just campaign against Obama, leaving aside Santorum, Paul, and Porkie, he's going to have to contend with the fact that he really is unlikable.  He really should call it off and go to the Caymans for a vacation:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/us/politics/santorum-sweep-sets-stage-for-new-battle-in-republican-race.html?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema1&pagewanted=print

2.  The election year wailing by some on the employer-provided health insurance obligation to provide birth control is nothing but a labor law issue that states that employees have the right to obtain contraceptives.  It does not mean that they have to.  Its all the same silly stuff that is cried out when same sex marriages are just as equal as opposite sex marriages - it does not mean that straits are obligated to marry the same sex.   The intellectual level of the conservative crowd on these issues is insulting to the rest of us:
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120208/pl_ac/10940848_hey_christians_others_dont_want_your_ban_on_birth_control

3.  On the above issue. Mitt Romney is a hypocrite and is even profiting from the manufacture of products of birth control.  He's got so much money that his foot gets stuck in his mouth, the money he's invested messes up his political issues, and we already know that he's not paying enough taxes.  Nothing is going for this guy now:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/02/08/420990/mitt-romney-is-financially-invested-in-the-birth-control-he-now-opposes/

4.  Not often does George Will defend the Obama administration, but he does here.  He really does.  And, he takes the Republican Party to task for trying to tell the voters that we need to add more troops and fight longer in the Middle East, and start new wars just because.  Will says that enough is enough, and Panetta at DOD is doing just fine:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-need-more-than-rhetoric-on-defense/2012/02/07/gIQA5SF1zQ_print.html

5.  EJ Dionne fill us in on his opinion on Karl Rove, Mitt, Santorum, and Clint Eastwood.  All in one column:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/clint-eastwood-rick-santorum-and-the-limits-of-pessimism/2012/02/08/gIQAL1nRzQ_print.html

6.  Gail Collins does a great job articulating the Catholic Church objection to #2 above, and how their objection has no relevance to what is actually going on with its members:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/opinion/collins-tales-from-the-kitchen-table.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  Nicholas Kristof and his view on the bottom of the economic caste system, and it not just about inequality of taxes, but a whole stew of methamphetamines , no well paying jobs, poor education, and nothing to grab on to on trying to rise up:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/opinion/kristof-the-decline-of-white-workers.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  The recent overturn of Prop. 8 in by the 9th Circuit Court is now being appealed, and may wind up shortly on the desk of the Supreme Court.  All the pundit handicappers have figure out how the various justices are slated to vote, and the writer of this article seems to think that it will all hinge on Justice Anthony Kennedy, if it is even accepted by the court:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-marriage-kennedy-20120209,0,2124857,print.story

9.   If you do a lot of airline travel, and you use certain airports, you may want to read about this.  It's about a TSA procedure that will take your application for the Global Online Enrollment System, and maybe (??) identify you as a good person, so that you have less hassle.  I went to the TSA website last night, and filled out the application, and will see where it goes:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tsa-security-20120209,0,2773390,print.story

--
Juan

"I looked up my family tree and found out I was the sap."

       -- Rodney Dangerfield

"There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president."
       -- Kurt Vonnegut

"He knows all about art, but he doesn't know what he likes."
       -- James Thurber

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."
       -- Thomas Jefferson

"I like life. It's something to do."
       -- Ronnie Shakes

Things to Know - 8 February

1.  California's Prop. 8 (ban on same-sex marriage) is ruled Unconstitutional by the 9th District Court.   This opens up another issue for the go-to-guy on the sanctity of marriage (Newt Gingrich) to squeal and oink in opposition:

http://www.truth-out.org/print/12300

2.  Ding-Dong, the Witch is Dead.  Unfortunately, Karen Handel poisoned the good name of the Komen Foundation, and was the lightening rod for reaction to de-fund Planned Parenthood, which exposed the confusion and tin-ear of those running the place.   Handel is unschooled in the ways of large organizations, and her lack of issues on the national level reveals her narrow-minded Georgia upbringing.  It remains to be seen from here on out if the Komen Foundation will ever recover from all of this:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12286

3.  Paul Krugman comes to the aid of Lizzie Warren, as her senatorial opponent is branding her as a hypocrite.   Scott Brown is really desperate with this one:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12292

4. The political game of the energy company is to deny the effects on climate by the burning of fossil fuel.  Their game is fueled by a big stink of money to buy testimonials, TV ads, and slick PR, in addition to buying all the needed influence at all levels of the legislative and executive process (yes, even Obama).  There is no re-do when this game is lost.  The second link is a NASA video that tracks the gradual increase in global temperatures since 1880:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12275
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2011-temps.html

5.  As you might have noticed, all of my sources today are from Truthout.  It is just full of good stuff today.  Continuing, here is Robert Reich on Mitt Romney and his political potty not really understanding the economic issues reflecting the Middle as well as the Bottom.  Mitt-bot is stuck:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12291

6.  Ross Douthat presents us with the argument that in all of the social issues before us, there is no common ground, or time out box to just say that we agree to disagree.  So, where do we go from here?  Probably no where:
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/the-persistence-of-the-culture-war/?pagemode=print

7.  For those of us who just worked all our lives, and had taxes withheld, or maybe have to pay a quarterly tax now, we have no idea how the gazillionaires do their taxes.   Here is how it is done.  FYI, if you really are going to make a lot of money, invent some thing, do an IPO and sell it for billions, and just borrow money now and then, using your stock as collateral.  Don't be an athlete or an entertainer, because you actually get paid money that is taxable each year.  Anyway, this is how to do it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/opinion/the-zuckerberg-tax.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  Young people and their families having to declare bankruptcy because of an inability to find employment after piling up student loan debt is a national tragedy:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-student-loan-bankruptcy-20120208,0,4970640,print.story

9.  Rick Santorum really trows the GeeOpee into a mess now.  Romney should really feel awful.  He did worse than he did four years ago.  What is going to be really bad for Mitt is that his carefully scripted song and dance is going to get tossed aside while he flails to recover, and that is when he is at his the top of his game-losing gaffes.  Gingrich is just going to go on more rude and arrogant than ever because he senses that Mitt-bot is in trouble.  Santorum thinks he's on a roll, which he is, but he really does not have the stature and hubris to win it all.  And then there is the crazy uncle in the corner, in the name of Ron Paul, who is just having a good time:
http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2012/02/the-consequences-of-santorumania.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpinionLa+%28L.A.+Times+-+Opinion+Blog%29


--
Juan

"I don't have a bank account because I don't know my mother's maiden name."

       -- Paula Poundstone

"I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
       -- Robert McCloskey

"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election."
       -- Bill Vaughan

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
       -- John Lennon

"Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish."
       -- Euripides

Things to Know - 7 February

1.  Sometimes it may be good to experiment with other sources of news, satire, or internet publications.   To that end, I'm going to introduce this, and see if it sticks to the wall:
http://www.cagle.com/2012/02/why-is-mitt-romney-playing-the-rags-to-riches-game/

2.  Apparently Mitt Romney went to the same school of American Patriotism as Sarah Palin's  Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.   If you get all tangled up in the vicissitudes of patriotic protocol, this one is for you:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/mitt-romneys-misfire-on-the-national-anthem/2012/02/05/gIQA5NLKsQ_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

3.  If you saw the Chrysler ad during the Super Bowl, you saw Clint Eastwood extol the resurgence of the auto industry and the rebounding of Detroit as an example of how America has struggled through the first half and will really get going in the second half.   Well, this was just too much for Karl Rove and the Super Pac ad producer of the right wing.  He just sees things in political tones, and was offended that it conveyed a political message.  Rove, grow up:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/karl-rove-offended-by-clint-eastwoods-chrysler-ad/2012/02/06/gIQAYt3HuQ_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

4.  The candidate who "is unemployed" and know what it is like to be poor, sure has been able to provide that his kids won't starve:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/06/pf/romney_kids_trust/index.htm

5.  As a follow-up to the above link, Romney just does not connect with enough people in his own party (whatever that means), to generate adequate excitement:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitt-romney-the-front-runner-who-leaves-the-gop-cold/2012/02/06/gIQAn0L5uQ_print.html

6.  I am giving you this Joe Nocera column, and going to let you know that I totally disagree with him.  The Keystone XL is a disaster for the environment.  Its proposed route through Nebraska and the Ogallala aquifer is a potential pollution hazard to the fresh water for the heartland of America.  A question was raised as to why Trans Canada (the oil company pushing this thing) does not just run this pipeline up and over to Bristish Columbia, refine it there, and avoid all the hassles in the USA.  The reason is that the Canadians are even more staunch and dead set against the destruction of their arboreal lands and water than we are.  The USA was seen as patsies and the easy to way to take their product to market, via oil refineries in Texas.  I personally will do as much as I can to see that this Keystone XL goes no where:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/opinion/nocera-the-poisoned-politics-of-keystone-xl.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  David Brooks comes up with a rationalization on how Obama should be doing a better job to help the poor:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/opinion/brooks-flood-the-zone.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  When the Big Banks screwed around screwing people, the abused actually moved their money to better places:
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-bank-transfer-day-20120206,0,5186717,print.story

--
Juan

"If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the Up button."

       -- Sam Levenson

"The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive."
       -- Robert Heinlein

"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." (Rush Limbaugh?  ed.))
       -- Eric Hoffer

"She was a woman who, between courses, could be graceful with her elbows on the table."
       -- Henry James

"The author of the Iliad is either Homer or, if not Homer, somebody else of the same name."
       -- Aldous Huxley

Things to Know - 6 February

1.  As ridiculous as things go in the Wannabees of the GeeOpee. it is perfectly logical that Rick Santorum believes that abortion causes breast cancer:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/05/santorum-suggests-abortion-causes-breast-cancer/

2.  I was wondering if there would be any hint of display during the Super Bowl about the state of Indiana's recent challenge to unions with its passage of the recent right-to-work legislation.  The NFL Players Association is in sympathy but played anyway.  Here's the skinny:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12219

3.  Bill Moyers converses with a social psychologist about the deep contentious divide in this country about politics:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12205

4.  The super-billionaires of the top of the 1% had a political strategy session in Indian Wells, CA.  Read something about it here:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12225

5.  This Washington Post column is reflective of the horrible action of the Wannabees on each other, as well as the goofy presentation and out-of-touch stuff Romney is prone to do.  From here on out, if Porkie insists on hanging in there and throwing more bombs at his Mittness, it will get worse.  Look for some action on taking out Newt, or running a third candidate if things get really desperate:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-holds-edge-over-romney-in-general-election-matchup-poll-finds/2012/02/05/gIQA5JX0sQ_print.html

6.  Paul Krugman reflects on the recent good news of the lower unemployment figure, but cautions against destructive optimism.   There will be moves and attempts to turn to austerity and act as if the problems are on the mend, and no need to continue to strive for stimulus and raise the interest rates.  Not so fast, says Krugman, it's better, but it ain't over yet:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/opinion/krugman-things-are-not-ok.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  This column personalizes the improving employment with particular attention to the Latino community:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-latino-jobs-20120205,0,415186,print.story

8.  Passing legislation the conforms the the overview of the "Buffett Rule" is a nice concept, and should be done. but it does not really do much to address the deficit and create any sense of overall fairness in the current tax structure:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kinsley-column-buffett-rule-20120203,0,3273185,print.story

--
Juan

"I poured spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone."

       -- Steven Wright

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
       -- Peter Steiner

"Every man is wise when attacked by a mad dog; fewer when pursued by a mad woman; only the wisest survive when attacked by a mad notion."
       -- Robertson Davies

"I believe that professional wrestling is clean and everything else in the world is fixed."
       -- Frank Deford

"I wish people who have trouble communicating would just shut up."
       -- Tom Lehrer

Things to Know - 5 February

1.  Here's some recent history on the lead up to the current Komen Foundation problem.  If anything, the polarizing issues that always lingered, are now better exposed to the public, and the issue of womens' health is better understood, and Planned Parenthood may be stronger as a result:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-he-komen-planned-parenthood-tictoc-20120204,0,5488549,print.story

2.  Now, it's coming out that there was much more of a right-wing faction steering a political spin on the Komen Foundation.   This politicization may further the extent of its demise:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12206

3.  Newt Gingrich has sullied the name of Saul Alinsky lately, and invoked nothing but typical porkie fury on who he was.  But no one really knows who he was.  He died in 1972.  Here's Bill Moyers, in his own style to remind us who Mr. Alinsky was, and how he Porkieness is practicing his dark art of politics-by-Newt:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12200

4.  The columnist in this piece place Mitt Romney as the candidate of the Tea Party, which I am not sure that the established GOP would like to be saddled with.   Not a ticket to winning:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitt-romney-the-stealth-tea-party-candidate/2012/01/31/gIQAy0BZnQ_print.html

5.  Frank Bruni is suggesting that Mitt is doming himself no favor by scuttling any references to life experiences in his church.  Why?  It might benefit him, but all we can speculate is that he is not willing to do so because of a perception of public backlash at the practices of the church of LDS:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/bruni-mitts-muffled-soul.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

6.  Maureen Dowd does a job on describing Callista Clingrich, as only Ms. Dowd can do:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/dowd-the-great-mans-wife.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  The grasp on power that Putin has on Russia is debatable.  He is being denounced in the streets, and he's wisely not taking action to stop it.  However, how are the strings going to be untied.  He acts like he's in charge, but is he really?:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/friedman-russia-sort-of-but-not-really.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

--
Juan Matute

"If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner."
       -- Tallulah Bankhead

"I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises."
       -- Buzz Aldrin

"The penalty for success is to be bored by the people who used to snub you."
       -- Nancy Astor

"'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt."
       -- Abraham Lincoln

"There's a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker."
       -- Charles M. Schulz

Fwd: Things to Know - 4 February

Mike Luckovich

1.  The "kerfuffle" over the Komen foundation coming back to support PP is not good enough for me.  The dust up brought to light that Karen Handel, a right-wing politico from Georgia, and an avowed opponent of PP is on the Komen board, and is still there.   I have no sympathies for Komen as long as Handel is still there:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12179

2.  Unions.  Unions, or guilds as they used to be known, are a coming together of workers for the common purpose of asking for a fair shake in employment, conditions, and compensation.  In this day in age, with fair practices laws, anti-discrimination laws, etc...why do we still need unions?   Folks this is the 21st Century, and this article tells you why.  Walmart and other companies,  outsource the responsibility of employer-employee relationships to sub-contractors, and go on about their business as if something like this is not their problem.  It is, just boycotting them does not solve the problem:
 http://www.truth-out.org/print/12185

3.  Insider stock trading. Not a good practice for members of congress to be legislating on stuff that they buy and sell.  So how does Eric Cantor get this defeated?.... read here:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12168

4. This article concerns the meritocracy of wealth, class, and Mormonism, as well as a bit more into the life of Willard:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12122

5.  The writer of this column takes Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum to task for demonizing an insulting the European Union.  I would also add that such talk for three dudes seeking to be the president really does not set the proper face forward for a nation to interact well with our global neighbors:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gops-europe-is-a-land-of-make-believe/2012/02/01/gIQA46m1nQ_print.html

6.  Tales of college screw ups (not the students, but the administration) seem to be in the news these days.  Dick Cavett brings to light a recent one by Vassar, that broke the heart of hundreds, and shamed the institution:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/should-news-come-with-a-warning-label/?pagemode=print

7.  Charles Blow speaks of the Tin Man with the Tin Ear:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/opinion/blow-romney-the-rich-and-the-rest.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  As most of us watch football this Sunday, here is an article that humanizes the downside of the contact sport that injures and maims into a life of agony and pain for the rest of the lives of the uniformed gladiators:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/opinion/nocera-the-cost-of-football-glory.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

9.  One more strike against Claremont McKenna College:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/02/kiplinger-drops-claremont-mckenna-college-after-test-scores-scandal.html

10.  Time for you to meet the Mexican Mitt:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-morrison-lalo-alcaraz-20120204,0,1813376,print.column



Juan Matute

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."
       -- Thomas A. Edison

"Humor is always based on a modicum of truth. Have you ever heard a joke about a father-in-law?"
       -- Dick Clark

"Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day."
       -- Mickey Rooney

"Of those who say nothing, few are silent."
       -- Thomas Neill

"A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing."
       -- Alexander Hamilton

--
Juan Matute

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."
       -- Thomas A. Edison

"Humor is always based on a modicum of truth. Have you ever heard a joke about a father-in-law?"
       -- Dick Clark

"Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day."
       -- Mickey Rooney

"Of those who say nothing, few are silent."
       -- Thomas Neill

"A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing."
       -- Alexander Hamilton

Fwd: Things to Know - 2 February

1.  Here is an interesting $3 course on Habeas Corpus and other related legalities in our justice system:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/41107/

2.  In the campaigning ahead, one of the issues that will always come up, and which will always be around until it is changed is the concept, declared by Mitt, that "corporations are people, my friends".  Not so, and so it goes:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12093

3.  So the guy wins Florida, and makes Porkie look really bad.  You think Romney would wise up, but no, he sticks his foot in his mouth big time again.  The sound byte will stick with him,  like an albatross, through the rest of the campaign:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12110

4.  Wall Street has the Big Entitlement institutions that are Too Big to Fail.  The Military-Industrial Complex has weapons systems, entitlement programs, that are Too Big to Cut:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12100

5.  Another one of Romney's gaffes (he does it quite well by now), was his proclamation on immigration reform - "self-deport", which really does nothing but alienate him from the Hispanic or any minority voters.  It also displays another facet of Mitt's out-of-touch persona:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/opinion/do-it-yourself-deportation.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

6.  What the take away is about Romney and his Florida campaign.  If he should have learned one thing, it is that when you want to get down and dirty and play like Gingrich, you will emerge with the same perception of values ascribed to Porkie.  Pigs wallowing in the same trough all smell and sound the same:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/opinion/the-darkening-tone-of-the-primaries.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  You may have head the word "meme" lately.  It is an invented word that combines the social context of many expressions into one word. It is a verbal emoticon, if you know what that is:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-daum-meme-20120201,0,4207013.column

8. Lot of hoopla out the about Facebook and its IPO.   Here's a column that advises a cautionary approach to any purchase:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120201,0,146064,print.column

9.  Here is an interest of conflict.  Depending on who you read, CNN goes one way and the AJC goes another.  Does it really matter?:
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/source-trump-to-endorse-1327422.html
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/02/trump-set-to-endorse-romney/?hpt=hp_t2
--
Juan Matute

"Start every day off with a smile and get it over with."
       -- W.C. Fields

"Statistics: The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions."
       -- Evan Esar

"When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained."
       -- Edward R. Murrow

"Some for renown, on scraps of learning dote, /And think they grow immortal as they quote."
       -- Edward Young

"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but, unlike charity, it should end there."
       -- Clare Booth Luce

--
Juan Matute

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."
       -- Thomas A. Edison

"Humor is always based on a modicum of truth. Have you ever heard a joke about a father-in-law?"
       -- Dick Clark

"Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day."
       -- Mickey Rooney

"Of those who say nothing, few are silent."
       -- Thomas Neill

"A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing."
       -- Alexander Hamilton

Things to Know - 16 December

1.  Robert Scheer starts us off with a piece on how our civil liberties are being trashed and a budget that keeps the MIC in plush shape:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/40199/

2.  This article points out something that many people had already suspected about the Tea Party - It was all about Racism - directed against the 1st black president - that got them started.  Guess who has recently come up with this notion?  You'd be surprised:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/40174/

3.  Here's a Porkie piece, but not like the usual ones:  By the time you read this, we will be getting feedback from recent polls that show that he has maybe peaked and is starting to show signs of slippage.   Leroy N. Gingrich thinks outside the box because he's not happy being in the box with the rest.  He's too good to be in the box with others. He needs to be unrestricted by boundaries because his his ego is too big.  So, he does strange things and he couldn't care less how many boxes he destroys in the process.  The business of Newt is to be different, in a bombastic, and destructive manner.  It sells books:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/40173

4.  Here's the Sioux City GeeOpee debate which is like going to a zoo and watching the hyenas snarl and dodge each other while trying to take each other out:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gingrich-on-the-defensive-in-gop-debate/2011/12/15/gIQAJPg8wO_story.html

5.  Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize winning Economist.   Ron Paul is a medical doctor and a Congressman.  Mr. Krugman is going beyond Porkie (having dismissed him as over the hill and gone past his peak).  Ron Paul will probably be up next, and he is taken to task for his views on the economy.  As Krugman is no MD, Paul is no Economist:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/opinion/gop-monetary-madness.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

6.  Timothy Egan shares his views on the subject of too much information being shared hastily on digital devices.   One advantage of being behind the technology curve for the old or senior generations is that the indiscretions of digital diarrhea are not as formidable or as prevalent or as haunting:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/please-stop-sharing/?pagemode=print

7.  Christopher Hitchens.  Brilliant and beyond interesting.  Not always someone you could agree with, but he made you have to think, not just think:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-mew-hitchens-20111216,0,141590,print.story

8.  The plight of the immigrant culture, both past and present, in East Hollywood, California, and probably every where:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tobar-20111216,0,6323647,print.column

9.  Iraq.   The war is over.  The MIC is furious, and so are the elected officials that they have bought.  What else is new?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-hayden-iraq-withdrawal-20111216,0,6177582,print.story


--
Juan Matute

"Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator and change has its enemies."
       -- Robert F. Kennedy

"The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way."
       -- Samuel Butler

"There are only two kinds of scholars; those who love ideas and those who hate them."
       -- Emile Chartier

"I can't bring myself to say, 'Well, I guess I'll be toddling along.' It isn't that I can't toddle. It's just that I can't guess I'll toddle."
       -- Robert Benchley

"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast."
       -- Oscar Wilde

Things to Know - 9 December

1.  There is something very morally disgusting about the subject in this article (disposing of US Troop remains in a landfill).  Ultimately it is not that the ashes are mingled with discarded yard debris and general waste products, but the shame by which unclaimed body parts are just part of the business of making war.  Personally, I am a cremation, no afterlife kind of guy, and probably should not care much,  But, I do.  I care about the cavalier attitude that has inured the military bureaucracy in how it respects human life being thrown into an other crumby and dumb war:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/air-force-dumped-ashes-of-more-troops-in-va-landfill-than-acknowledged/2011/12/07/gIQAT8ybdO_print.html

2.  Remember those ads on TV by ANGA, where they gloss over or do not mention the harm done by fracking to our drinking water tables?  Well. let's see them wiggle out of this?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FRACKING_GROUNDWATER_POLLUTION?SITE=VAWAY&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

3. There is someone else, by the name of Thom Hartmann,  who has some text and video on things you should know:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/10158

4.  The other people who stand on the stage with Porkie chime in with their assessment of his character:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-supporters-ex-colleagues-attack-gingrichs-leadership-vanity/2011/12/08/gIQAfS4YgO_story.html

5.  It really is difficult to take Gingrich as a serious candidate.  He's just performing, like a former aging pop star, now relegated to casino lounges and county fairs, and instead of selling CDs at the back of the venue, he's selling books instead.  He's an insult to serious politicking:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gingrichs-book-selling-efforts-test-law/2011/12/06/gIQAtPqYfO_print.html

6.  Not to be overlooked, David Brooks has something to say about Leroy Newton Gingrich.  A bit of praise, but ends in pointing out his character flaws:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/opinion/brooks-the-gingrich-tragedy.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  Paul Krugman on Romney, his record at Bain, the wealthy, and the obligation of the 1%:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/opinion/krugman-all-the-gops-gekkos.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  Boyle Heights, in Los Angeles, is a rich cultural and historical part of the city.  Hector Tobar paints a picture in words:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tobar-20111209,0,1817494.column

9  This is for all those naysayers who claim that climate change ("global warming") is a hoax, or is not a man-made problem:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-climate-20111209,0,3206861,print.story



--
Juan Matute

"What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow."
       -- A.A. Milne

"It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can't remember if it's the thirteenth or the fourteenth."
       -- George Burns

"The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it's just sort of a tired feeling."
       -- Paula Poundstone

"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other."
       -- Eric Hoffer

"We are an impossibility in an impossible universe."
       -- Ray Bradbury